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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




BERTHA MONROE RICKOFF. 



F^EAD AT TJHE BANQUET OF THE OHIO S06IETY 

OF JMEW YORK, AT DELJvlONieO'S, APf^lL 7, 1888. 



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OHIO 



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BY 



BERTHA MONROE RICKOFF 



CINCINNATI 
ROBERT CLARKE & CO. 

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Copyright, 1888, 
By BERTHA MONROE RICKOFF, 



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ILLUSTRATIONS 

BY E. J. MEEKER. 



The snow in old New England 

Lies deep at the farm-house door, 

While the crackling logs in the- chimney 
Make roseate roof and floor. 





There is talk of a richer country, 

Of a river full and strong, 
And gray-h aired men with hopes and 
doubts 
In council debated long, 






^X? ; " : Till dawn through the square-paned windows 
Saw the embers die to white, 
And the child of a free republic, 
OHIO was born that night. 




Asleep the unconscious forests, 
In the fertile valley, stand, 

As marble, in its quarry, waits 

The awak'ning sculptor's hand. 




Like the dawn of a mighty era, 
See the rich west world unfold, 

With its fragrant fields of clover 
And Indian corn's red gold! 



Where the white man breaks impetuous through, 

The iron pathway follows, 
By purple vineyards in the sun, 

By barns swept o'er by swallows. 



The school house rests beneath the hill, 
The rising sun's red fires 

Light up the village window panes, 
The cities' lifted spires! 




While over the grain and the cornfields, 
From the blue of the lake to the river, 

Peace lies on a million hearth-stones, 
Thanks rise to the mighty Giver. 



When, a lightning flash in terror, 
War's fiery message came, 

Over the orchards and homesteads, 
A blighting breath of flame ! 




"To arms! To arms, for our country, 

To arms, to make men free ! 
Through the long dark night our motto bright, 

To arms, for liberty ! " 



Again do we hear the war tramp 
And see the banners play, 

As when Sherman took Atlanta 
And Sheridan saved the day. 



Ah, thoughts of a well-known figure 
Through memory tenderly float, 

As we call to mind a picture 
In a pale blue cavalry coat! 



In the group of the world's great captains, 
He stands in the foremost line ; 

His course to our children's children 
An old romance will shine. 



Be with us to-night, in our feasting, 
As the seeds of a cycle we plant, 

Our foremost, our king and our brother, 
Be with us — spirit of Grant! 



Through struggle of danger and darkness, 
No tread of a slave prints our sod ; 

Through the fire of death and destruction 
We lifted our banners to God. 



The sword lies rusting in its sheath, 
The battle flags are furled, 

Our chiefs are called where justice rules 
And council guides the world; 



When again we hear the tolling bells 
And the soldiers' measured tread, 

As borne in state through shrouded ways 
There moves a nation's dead ! , 




From every land beneath the sky 

The tributes deck his bier, 
And tears from war worn statesmen fall 



To do him homage here! 




The tramp of years still leads us on, 
Work brings to us Midas's power, 

Our lines of commerce through the world 
With gold our pathways cover. 



Oh rolling land of hill and lake, 
With jewels on your breast, 

Your palace towers, like beacons, light 
The gateway to the west. 



Oh grave in our own Ohio, 

Where the northern lake wind sweeps, 
We bow our heads in remembrance 

Of the hill where Garfield sleeps. 



While triumph's tide on sands of time 

Resistless bears us on, 
We cheer — Our new found Thackeray, 

Our second Keats in song. 



Oh wild rose high on the sycamore tree, 

Oh brown old home on the hill, 
Though the world is wide and we 're on the tide, 

Our hearts are with you still ! 





Whatever the flag that 's above us 
Under the sun's broad light, 

Whatever state may claim us 

We 're Buckeyes for to-night ! 



Here 's to home, where the world was before us, 
To home, with the flag floating o'er us ! 

In the land of the free, there 's no truer than we, 
Here 's to home with the flag floating o'er us. 



